VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – A Vale subsidiary has been ordered to pay C$30 000 in penalties for a 2013 incident, where untreated and acutely lethal effluent was discharged from the Voisey’s Bay nickel mine, in Newfoundland and Labrador, into the Anaktalak Bay.
The St Johns provincial court ordered Vale Newfoundland and Labrador on Tuesday to pay the penalties, after the company pleaded guilty to a violation of the federal Fisheries Act.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on Thursday said that of the total penalty, C$25 000 would be directed to the federal environmental damages fund.
The subsidiary will also be added to the environmental offenders registry, which contains the names of corporations convicted of offences under certain federal environmental laws.
Under normal conditions, treated process water from the operation’s mill is pumped through a 10 km pipeline and discharged into Edwards Cove, in Anaktalak Bay.
On March 27, 2013, Vale notified the department that untreated effluent had been released from the mine. Enforcement officers subsequently completed an investigation, determined the effluent was acutely lethal and charged Vale in October 2014.
According to the ECCC, the environmental damages fund was established in 1995 and follows the ‘polluter pays principle” that helps ensure that polluters take responsibility for their actions. The fund provides a mechanism to direct pollution-related fines, court orders and voluntary payments to priority projects that will benefit the environment.